I live and hunt in the southernmost region of France and of course our practice and our territory has nothing in common with those of the northeast of our country.
If until the 1970s the majority of big game hunters used shotguns - with the notable exception of mountain hunters, devoted to center fire rifles - this has changed radically since then and it is extremely rare to meet a big game hunter holding a scattergun, except maybe sometimes the one who leads the dogs.
The rifles are divided into three categories: semi auto like Browning Bar and the like, bolt action, with a predominance of Blaser R93/R8 or Merkel Helix, and finally double rifles generally chambered in 7x65R, 8x57JRS or 9.3x74R.

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